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19 February 2009

Interviewing Pat Mills

Pat Mills, personality that goes unnoticed to the comics readers, is known as the "godfather of British comics." Founder of the 2000 AD magazine that has made known to the world many respected artists, Pat is the creator of Marshal Law (with Kevin O'Neill), Requiem: Chevalier Vampire (with Olivier Ledroit), writer of Judge Dredd, among many other works.
Irreverent and somewhat controversial, Centralcomics took advantage of his recent presence of the author in FIBDA, in order to do an interview and discuss the current tendency of the comics market.

Diogo Campos: You're known has the "godfather of British comics". You created 2000AD which opened the doors to the British invasion of American comics where many authors like Garth Ennis, Sean Phillips, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis or Neil Gaiman first showed up to a vast audience. How do you see yourself as a historical character on the comics history?
Pat Mills: 2000AD was a European influenced comic and I prefer European comics, hence why I write Requiem for France. So the term Godfather is kind of misleading as it suggests a connection with this move to America which I don't relate to. Although I have worked for America, I don't like super heroes because they are mainly phoney, a travesty of the meaning of the word hero, and I equally dislike most of Vertigo which is "corporate cool", rather than genuinely cool. Hence why I write Marshal Law - super hero hunter. So I see myself as an Outsider, moving in the opposite direction to everyone else, a direction that is better for my soul, if not my bank balance.

DC: Garth Ennis's The Boys was turned down by Vertigo before Dynamite picked it up for instance. Maybe I’m not paying enough attention but it seems all the publishers are always a bit “careful” with what they launch. Do you think even the small ones have the same corporative issue?
PM: Possibly. The days when American comics did really "brave" material are long gone. Violent isn't the same as brave.
E.G. Last Gasp American comics in the 70s were the first to expose the Karen Silkwood affair. That is true bravery!

DC: Moving on to a general idea, how do you see the comics market?
PM: Very conservative in Britain and America. Innovative in Europe - although sometimes I get the feeling European artists and writers are overly influenced by UK and US and France when their own culture has as much or more to offer

DC: Do the American publishers still track down creators from 2000AD?
PM: I'm sure they do. But this last question implies there is some great achievement if they do. Why not French publishers? Why do we have to be tracked down anywhere? What about if we are already where we want to be? The world is far too American orientated and we need to resist neo-colonialism. Leave that to Tony Blair who - to my country's shame - was so happy to kiss Bush's ass. In comics, we don't have to do the same.

I will give you an example:
A very important American publisher "tracked down" an artist on one of my British stories and wanted him to dump my story and work for them. The artist said no to them. They said - but we can give you more money. He said no again. They were angry because the dollar didn't buy him. He preferred to work for Britain. He preferred to work on my story because he cares about the story and about art. The dollar does not always win.

These are the things we as Europeans should be celebrating rather than the constant admiration for American corporate comics.

We should be equal partners, treated with equal respect. The best way to achieve this is to take pride in our European culture and our own comics. I loved the Portuguese comics I saw when I was over in Lisbon. They were great. But I fell asleep at an editorial meeting of Marvel Comics in New York once. Seriously! Super Heroes! What is all the fuss about? Marshal Law needs to pay them all a visit.

DC: Well it’s a common thing the American publishers track down authors from other smaller publishers. The small ones have the hard work launching someone’s career and when they do, the major ones try to pick them up.
There’s this general idea that the pinnacle of a comics artist is working for the 3 or 4 major publishers.
PM: In Britain - yes. But in Europe working for the top French publishers is the objective. So artists in Poland and Serbia would want to work for France - Soleil, Dargaud etc. - rather than the States.

We have to get away from this idea that the world revolves around America.

For example in Berlin... a popular comic-based Hollywood movie came out , but my German film-student friends had never heard of it the week it was Number Three in the German charts. They were far more interested in European cinema. I am sure they are not alone.

DC: They give you more audience and apparently pay more but there are other alternatives. 2000AD seems to be one and like 2000AD, there are other magazines and publishers looking for new people. For those who are already out there trying to be noticed, what can you recommend so they can move on to higher grounds?
PM: If you are an artist - work for France. If you are a writer - find an artist and work for France. But it's just as tough as the States... However, anyone who has talent will eventually find a home.

DC: But how and when you did you decide you wanted to do comics for a living? What was your first experience with comics?
PM: When I worked for a publishers who produced comics. Previously, as a kid, I had no real experience of comics.

DC: Besides John Wagner, you were one of the creators who most contributed to the Judge Dredd’s character and world early conceptions. You’ve watched Dredd’s world start from scratch so, here's the inevitable question, what do you think of the movie and Stallone as Dredd?
PM: Not as bad as people said. There are worse movies out there!

DC: Many people (like me) are eager to know: when we'll see a Requiem compilation in English?
PM: Oh, yeah and me! It's a slow process. Panini UK are interested, possibly tieing in with Paninis elsewhere. But Heavy Metal are currently doing US edition.
Finally!!

DC: Can you reveal something of your future projects? Anything new we should be looking forward to?
PM: More of the same. In France, Sha will be reprinted shortly. In Britain... I write various 2000AD characters: Savage, Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, Greysuit, Defoe, Slaine.
I also write audio plays for Doctor Who and am working on my third one soon
And next year Top Shelf will publish a Marshal Law Omnibus.

DC: Do you have any advice to young creators who want to create their own projects?
PM: Write and draw from the heart about something you really know about. Use Writer's Journey as your guide.
Good luck!